Trip Database Blog

A number of bloggers have highlighted the ‘sort of’ end (as of yesterday) of the NLH:

• Bye bye National Library for Health
• NHS Evidence
• Farewell then NLH

Over the years TRIP worked on a number of projects, first with the NeLH and then the NLH. Initially we provided a search solution, various bits of project work and finally on the Q&A service.

I’m wondering if the NLH is (or will be) considered a success or not. I remember, near the start of the NeLH, I saw Muir Gray discuss the aims of the site. He said something like people will have access to top quality material within 3 clicks. I don’t believe it came close to this. I also think the view of the NLH will be shaped by the success or not of NHS Evidence.

What does concern me about NHS Evidence is that it’s a search solution using accredited sources of information. I return to the theme of what do the users want? Do the people in NHS Evidence understand why people search for information?

Probably the most likely reason for a clinician to search NHS Evidence is because the have a clinical question. In an ideal world, if you have a question which would you prefer:

• A list of 10-20 hyerlinks to accredited documents
• An answer using the best available evidence

If you’re a busy clinician and you have a choice of asking a colleague (as we know most clinicians do) or searching and trying to find the answer from multiple documents human nature suggests the former is more likely. And most people will acknowledge the problematic nature of search.

This is not about me wishing to reinstate the Q&A service, this is about wanting to support clinicians to practice evidence-based healthcare. Give clinicians the answers they want, make their lives easier. The more barriers you place in the way of practicing with ‘best evidence’ the less likely it is to be practiced.

By the end of this month NHS Evidence will have launched with their super-duper new search engine. I genuinely hope they introduce some innovative features that we (at TRIP) can learn from. However, search is only part of the solution. From my perspective the sooner they realise that the better.

In saying farewell to the NeLH/NLH one name has gone unmentioned – Ben Toth. He was instrumental in setting up the NeLH and he achieved great things.

I’ve been following the campaign Health Information for all by 2015 for over a year now and earlier today had a good chat with Neil Pakenham-Walsh, the coordinator of the group. The aim of the campaign is

“By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider”

A huge ask but interesting to hear of the progress and problems from Neil. The main point of our conversation was to explore how HIFA 2015 and TRIP can work together. It was a fruitful chat and we’re both passionate about what we do. I’m pleased to say that we’ll be working together in the near future and hopefully, with the launch of the new TRIP site in July 2009 will see opportunities for TRIP to provide financial support to HIFA 2015 to help them achieve their aims.

In the interim, visit their site and sign up!

For all of you that do or do not (!) get twitter, you might enjoy this.

We have just added the reports from Orphanet to TRIP. Orphanet is a website dedicated to improving the quality of care for people with rare diseases. We’ve added links to just over 600 rare conditions and these will be searchable by the start of next week.

A truely bizarre/shocking story about a COI incident involving JAMA. This article reports it very nicely.

Twitter has been alive with chat about this – see here.

Internet Explorer is now available as version 8 (IE8). Unfortunately, as is so often the case, the new technology causes parts of the site to break. Fortunately, the breaks do not appear appear to be too severe and no massive rush to fix them – but they will get fixed!

Work will shortly be starting on the next upgrade to TRIP. There are currently 19 separate projects as part of this upgrade and work should be completed by the start of July. The main pieces of work include:

• Improved speed
• Significant enhancement of CPD/CME capabilities
• Overhaul of ‘My-TRIP’
• Incorporate a new design for the site using, for the first time, a specialist external design agency
• Creation of a ‘New/Newsworthy’ section
• Integrate extra content (moving content from specialist TRIP’s into the main TRIP search)
• Creating a background knowledge box
• Create an export facility (send via e-mail or export as a .txt file)
• Improvement to the search algorithm
• Improve medical images

As these pieces of work are completed and tested internally I’ll blog in more detail about each feature.

The latest update of new content on TRIP is now searchable – a total of 453 records have been manually added plus a similar amount automatically added.

I like to think that TRIP has developed a powerful brand name. Equally importantly the brand name appears to evoke a high level of fondness. So much so we decided to protect our brand and last year applied for a trademark. We have just been notified that this has been granted. In the future, should someone try to use the name TRIP in the medical sphere, we have a high level of protection.